Frequently Asked Questions

About Us

Silver Fern Farms is supplied by approximately 16,000 family farmers across New Zealand — and each one of those farmers knows that raising flavorful, high-quality red meat requires more than just expertise and hard work. It requires care, passion, and respect, and those values play a key role in every part of our business.

Our goal is to provide you with exceptional red meat, but we make it a priority to do so responsibly. That’s why we follow the principles of the five freedoms for animal welfare and implement initiatives to minimize our environmental impact. It’s why we’re a founding member — and the only red meat company — to join New Zealand’s Climate Leaders Coalition. When you buy from Silver Fern Farms, you’re not just buying delicious red meat — you’re buying into the humane treatment of livestock, sustainability, and a community of independent farmers.

Our ability to grow nutritious grass year-round means our farmers can raise animals with a light touch, allowing them to lead as close to a natural life as possible. The result is lean, tender red meat with a cleaner and more complex flavor than grain-fed meat. 

Most of the land used for livestock in New Zealand is unsuitable for crops, making pastoral farming a highly sustainable alternative. Our grass-based system optimizes natural resources and uses low-intensity farming practices to minimize environmental impact. Using a natural abundance of rainwater to grow grass, farmers optimize livestock to match the natural grass growth curve.

None of our animals are ever given growth hormones or promotants.

Orders

Orders are unable to be modified once it is out for delivery, however please reach out to our customer support team as soon as possible and we will do our best to support you.

Promos codes are entered and calculated at check-out.

We deliver nearly everywhere nationwide across the continental United States, however due to the perishability of our products we are currently unable to ship to Alaska or Hawaii. 

Please contact our Customer Services team as soon as possible. We will need you to provide your order details, when your product arrived to you as well as a clear description of what is faulty with your product.  If you have photo's this is also very helpful for our continuous improvements processes. Please contact SupportUSA@silverfernfarms.com.

Your meat should still be frozen or refrigerator cold (below 40 degree's as measured with a food thermometer) when it arrives to you. Please take it from the insulation packaging and put it in your freezer or refridgerator as soon as possible. If your order is still partially frozen or very cold to the touch like you’ve just taken it out of the fridge it is safe to re-freeze, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing.

Delivery

Absolutely. You will receive an email with a tracking number from FedEx after the order ships which will display the estimated delivery date and allow you to monitor delivery progress within the FedEx platforms. You can also access this information under when you are logged into our website under ‘My Account’.

It may take up to a week for your order to arrive (longer during the holiday periods).  We ship directly from our warehouse in Kansas City, Missouri.


We ship Monday through Wednesday (packing cut-off is Wednesday 12noon Kansas City, Missouri time) every week, so packages typically arrive Tuesday through Saturday. 


If you have not received your order 5 days after your shipping confirmation email, please contact our customer service team for further support - Click the 'Support' button on the website, or please email SupportUSA@silverfernfarms.com.

Delivery costs are as follows: 

Free delivery on orders over $200,

$19 for orders valued $150 to $199.99,

$25 for orders less than $150 

All orders should be retrieved as soon as possible. We pack the shipment with enough dry ice to facilitate the delivery, but packages should not remain outside or unrefrigerated longer than 2-4 hours after delivery. When retrieved within that time window, your meat should arrive refrigerator cold—below 40°F as measured with a food thermometer.


Note: We cannot refund parcels which have been delivered to the shipping address with proof of delivery. We cannot refund orders which have not been retrieved in a timely manner or have been moved from the final delivery location & are now missing.  A safe and secure delivery location is the responsibility of the person placing the order.

If your order arrives with the wrong products please get in touch with our customer service team as soon as possible. Please ensure to include your email address, order number and what you received and one of our friendly team will be in touch to remedy this for you. Please contact SupportUSA@silverfernfarms.com.

If your order arrives damaged please take a photo of the damage and send to our customer service team. Please ensure to include your email address, the order number and the item/s missing or damaged from your box and one of our friendly team will be in touch to remedy this for you. Please contact SupportUSA@silverfernfarms.com.

Returns

We are shipping perishable product(s) and therefore are not able to accept returns. Unlike items that have a longer shelf life, items that are perishable cannot be restocked or resold. If you are not completely satisfied with your Silver Fern Farms products, please contact SupportUSA@silverfernfarms.com.

Product

If your order is still partially frozen or very cold to the touch like you’ve just taken it out of the refridgerator it is safe to re-freeze, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing.

Due to the seasonal nature of our farming in New Zealand and our remoteness to foreign countries, Silver Fern Farms has developed are large range of frozen beef, lamb and venison products.  This enables Silver Fern Farms to supply high quality frozen beef, lamb and venison to markets throughout the year and around the world.

  • Lamb and venison products, when held at storage temperature of -0.4°F (-18°C) are able to achieve a storage life of 36 months.  Beef products, when held at a storage temperature of -0.4°F (-18°C) are able to achieve a storage life of 24 months. 
  • The storage life has been determined following shelf-life performance evaluation trials conducted under standard frozen storage conditions.

If the meat is still in its vacuum sealed packaging, it will have a refrigerated shelf life of 25 days, however just like any other fresh meat once the sealed packaging has been opened you should consume as soon as possible.

All of our beef and lamb products are halal. Our venison is not halal.

  • Our Beef & Lamb are slaughtered in New Zealand by qualified Muslim slaughter experts in accordance with Muslim Sharia Law.

  • Where our products are further processed in the US, we can certify that these facilities have separation protocols to ensure our product retain their Halal status.

  • Halal certification processes are different country to country, at Silver Fern Farms in New Zealand we strictly follow our local Halal Slaughter regulatory standards.

  • New Zealand has developed regulatory standards for Halal meat production and these standards are administered by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), which is the Government regulatory agency that also administers New Zealand’s food safety regulatory framework.

  • All New Zealand processing plants, including those that undertake halal slaughter, have MPI veterinarians on-site who monitor slaughter and processing operations.

When opening your vacuum-packed Silver Fern Farms meat, you may notice a slightly sour, milky or nutty odor. This odor is the result of the natural maturation within our unique thermoform packaging as the meat ages. It is perfectly normal and should dissipate within a few minutes.

Net Carbon Zero

  • 'Net Carbon Zero' means that the total emissions generated by each kilogram of product, are independently measured and certified, right throughout the whole life of the product.
  • To achieve and maintain our Net Carbon Zero certification, for every kilogram of product sold, the equivalent amount of emissions needs to be removed by vegetation occurring on the farms that supply the product. We are also required to actively work across our supply chain to reduce emissions over time.

The total emissions generated by each pound/kilogram of product were independently measured and certified across the whole life of the product, from farm to the consumers plate in the USA, including disposal of the packaging.

Yes, and our measurements are undertaken and verified by an independent party. They cover the whole life and care of our products end-to-end including from farm, processing, shipping, right to the consumers home, including disposal of packaging.

  • More than 95 percent of emissions from our Net Carbon Zero beef occur on farm. The transport and packaging are therefore very minor contributors to the overall carbon footprint but are still fully accounted for and offset via removals on the farms the animals were raised.
  • At Silver Fern Farms we are lucky to be 100% made of New Zealand and our unique environment. We strongly believe that cattle on pasture especially those 100% Grass-Fed, lead happier, healthier, and more natural lives, and produce a higher quality and much more sustainable product.

Toitū Envirocare is New Zealand’s internationally recognized environmental certification organization. It is wholly owned subsidiary of a New Zealand Government Crown Research Institute. Toitū provide independent certification and verification of our Net Carbon Zero product, our processing emissions and our Environmental Management System. 

  • We use independently certified and approved methodology to remotely identify the type and age of vegetation occurring on our suppliers’ farms. We then work with our farmers to ground truth the data and finalize how much equivalent CO² is being removed every year by that vegetation.
  • We then contract and purchase this carbon from farmers to match the emissions from the meat produced within the program. This rewards our farmers for their environmental management practices, incentivises additional planting and highlights the benefit of Grass-Fed beef from New Zealand.

Not at all, Angus Beef is our premium beef program and as with all our products, the animals are raised with a light touch. Our beef has a superior 100% Grass-Fed taste and texture every time.

The Net Carbon Zero Angus Beef range is a premium product underpinned by a commitment that 100% of that premium goes back to rewarding and incentivising farmers for their current and future on-farm carbon sequestration.

No. We will supply Net Carbon Zero Angus beef alongside our other ranges, our intention is to work with an ever-increasing number of our suppliers to reduce emissions over time and provide strong incentives to care for vegetation on their farms that helps to fight climate change.

We believe that by requiring our participating farms to locally match the product’s emissions, rather than purchasing offsets outside of the products boundary (such as investing in a windfarm) we deliver a product that authentically incentivises sustainable practice on farm.

Carbon offsets are a way to compensate for carbon emissions by investing in projects that cancel out the equivalent emissions of CO² from a certain activity. In-setting (or removals) is a type of offsetting, but instead of investing in just any project, in-setting invests in projects that remove the equivalent amount of CO² within a defined boundary of where the activity took place or in our case, only from where the product came from.

Learn more about our commitment to climate change and sustainability here.

Our certification for a net carbon zero product relies on us being able to manage all of our emissions and removals within the lifecycle of the product. We believe that by requiring our participating farms to locally match the product’s own emissions with carbon absorbing vegetation on their own farms. As a result, we then deliver a product that authentically incentivizes sustainable practice on farm now and into the future.

  • Cows produce biogenic methane emissions (mainly by burping) as they turn grass into meat.  In fact, these burps make up 96% of the carbon footprint for 1 lb of beef.  Silver Fern Farms’ Net Carbon Zero products account for 100% of end-to-end emissions (including all those burps) and have been independently measured and certified, then offset within the farms where the animals were raised.
  • Toitū Envirocare is New Zealand’s internationally recognized environmental certification organisation. It is wholly owned subsidiary of a New Zealand Government Crown Research Institute. Toitū provide independent certification and verification of our Net Carbon Zero product, our processing emissions, and our Environmental Management System.